How to Install the Genesis Framework on WordPress

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install the Genesis Theme Framework (version 2.1.2) on WordPress. We assume that you have purchased and downloaded the Genesis framework already. It comes with the main genesis.2.1.2.zip file as well as an example child theme genesis-sample.zip

1. In your WordPress dashboard -> Appearance -> Themes, click “Add New” and then “Upload Theme” and select the genesis.2.1.2.zip file. You do not need to extract it beforehand.

2. Then activate the theme by clicking the Activate link …

activate theme

3. Once you have clicked this, the look and feel of your site will have changed to the Genesis default theme that comes out of the box.

4. That’s it. You are using Genesis. It is just like installing any other theme. If you go to “Appearance -> Themes”, you will see that Genesis is active.

customize theme

5. Click the customize button to start customizing it…

customization panel

6. There are additional customization and SEO settings in the WordPress sidebar …

more customization options

How to install Genesis Child Theme

If you are developer and need to customize the site even further than what is provided in these customization themes, you should create or install a Genesis Child theme before altering the code. That way you do not touch the Genesis core code because by default setting Genesis will auto-update its core code and may overwrite your customizations.

When you purchased Genesis, it came with a sample child theme, we install that now by going to “Appearance -> Themes -> Add New -> Upload Theme”.

Select genesis-sample.zip and click Install and then the Activate link just like before.

If you look in the file system, you will see two new folders …

/wp-content/themes/genesis/

/wp-content/themes/genesis-sample/

The first is the Genesis theme and the second is the child theme. Do not change the code in the former. Change the code in the latter.